It’s good to have another resource for Bible study.
Yeah, there’s a lot of irony in the book. Elimilech leaves the land of Israel, which is a sign of great failing of trust in God. We see that at some point, the famine in Bethlehem has let up. But, he has lost his life anyway, in Moab.
The Jewish Study Bible (Oxford University Press) makes a small point that the word “judges” would better be translated and understood as “chieftains.” Having said that, it still uses Judges as the title and the translation throughout the book. It’s hard to see any sense of the word “judge” in our modern sense in the book.
The JSB says the point of Judges is to show how the nation is floundering without a monarchy – which cuts both ways. Sure it’s floundering, but that is because the people have abandoned God, mostly.
